Statistics on Millennials are like hand grenades, relentlessly lobbed by Boomers and Gen-Xers over the generational no-mans-land of technology and past the unmarked graves of brave hipsters who have gone before. And if one hits you before you’re thirty, you’re like a lost-boy who got thrown out of Neverland and grew up too fast. “Did you know 100% of millennials are selfish?” they say. Or, “Have you heard that world-hunger was actually caused by a coffee-drinking-hipster from Orange County that didn’t want to work hard?” To which we sigh, “Yes, Grandma, you’ve told me that before… and No, I still don’t have a ‘real’ job.

And as a millennial, I confess… sometimes I’m pretty selfish. I want privileges I haven’t earned, and often shirk the responsibilities of adulthood all so that I can cherish a few more sunsets with my friends. I enjoy Instagram and hate taxes. I ugly-laugh when I replay a snap using a voice-change filter. And some months I spend more money on coffee than I do on rent. Come at me.

We’re the generation that is standing on society’s proverbial table and shouting, “Why not! Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too?!” And is that too much to ask? To work and play? To learn and love? To get where I’m going by making a couple of mistakes along the way? Is that so bad?

If you’re like me then you have wondered how to make it across to the other side of 20 with your hiking boots still laced and your coffee still hot.

And by the sheer grace of God, I have found a job that supports the adventurer in me AND is forming in me the habits and skills I’ll need when I finally figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I work at Camp. Yes, CAMP!

My nieces and nephew think that my job is a prolonged vacation, which it kind of is. “Mom works for the School District, but Uncle Kyle works at camp,” is a sentence they’ve probably said or thought at some point. But I’ll let you decide which sounds cooler. I work at a camp in the PNW that features dirt bikes, horses, paintball, archery, beach property on two lakes, a giant swing, and a High Ropes Circuit. And if that weren’t enough, last year over 1,600 people made some kind of commitment to Jesus here! Dunk-tanks, water balloons, s’mores, silly songs, good friends, and Jesus. Yep, this is my job!

But at the same time, my job isn’t just developing me into an adult… it’s developing me into the kind of adult the world needs. An adult who is kind, compassionate, often-laughing, conflict-navigating, hard-working, and even process-following. I’m becoming an adult who cares more about purpose than paychecks. And one day I’ll be the kind of Dad that raises a tribe of crazies that know how to laugh loud, work hard, and love well.

So here are the top 7 reasons I believe working at camp is the BEST summer job for millennials:

1.) Have an adventure.Do something different. Something crazy. Live a little. The best adventures take work, and the best work takes you on adventures. Most camps’ pay starts around $2,000 for a summer of work – most of which you can pocket if you’re careful. Costume dance parties, skits, late-night conversations, dirt bike and horseback rides through the forest, paintball wars in a junkyard, and songs around a campfire – these are all best served with a side of I-can’t-believe-I’m-getting-paid-for-this.

3.) Work for a cause.Maybe your camp’s focus is the disabled. Maybe it’s low-income individuals. And maybe your camp shares the Gospel too. Whatever it is, millennials want to know that their work is bigger than themselves. This isn’t the drive-thru or your average 9-to-5. My camp serves homeless and at-risk youth, military families, inner-city kids, and low-income families, all while sharing the message that Jesus came to heal brokenness. I’m not just working hard and having fun, I’m making an impact.

4.) Make Lifelong Friends.Camp breeds friendship in young adults like Black Friday breeds hysteria in middle-aged-women. You’ll meet people that are gut-bustingly-funny, refreshingly-authentic, and crazy-passionate. Add to this that you’ll be cracking jokes constantly and you probably just found a new BFF or two. If that weren’t enough, no small number of us have found our spouse at camp!

5.) Grow Up… A Little.Just give me a chance on this one. You just graduated high school or you’re in college… and truthfully, people hardly trust you with anything yet. But at camp, you’re a valuable leader with responsibilities that your friends and others depend on. You’ll learn a thing or two that the millennial in you maybe hasn’t wanted to figure out yet. You’ll have to navigate conflict, keep people safe, watch other people’s kids, share a room with another human being, wake up on time, and keep track of your keys. Your friends (not your parents) will be counting on you, which is the kind of incentive us millennials need to toe the line a little more consciously.

6.) Make Mistakes.At camp it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to have a bad day and talk to your boss about it. No one’s going to scream “Job Opening!” after you drop the ball – in fact, they’ll probably help you pick it up and encourage you to try again. If you’ve had the entry level jobs most of us have had, then you know this is actually a big deal.

7.) Grow in your faith.A lot of camps are faith-based. At camp the pressures of social media weaken because authentic relationships are completely available to you. This kind of unplugged, bible-soaked and prayer-saturated space is exactly what you need if you want to run faster than ever at Jesus.

So what I’m actually saying is – Camp is a magical place where Unicorns still exist...

where the trees bud with tufts of cotton candy, fruit punch flows freely from the water fountains, every guys journal reads like Braveheart and every girl’s diary reads like a Nicholas Sparks book. But on the real – this is the kind of job that won’t be around after you turn 30, or sign the dotted lines on your first full-time job after college. It’s completely worth it – to have an adventure, make friends along the way, and to accept the kinds of responsibilities that help make the world a better place.

If you’re interested in a summer job, you can apply for my camp and we’ll talk it out over a cup of coffee. I’ll buy. www.cristacamps.com/summer-staff

Last May I wrote a guest-post for another blog. After a few silent days, the moderator sent the post back - it was too inflammatory. When the mere word "Transgender" invokes discomfort in the mind of a Christian, then be afraid... very afraid. And I suppose that was the point all along - that what scares me more than anything, is not Transgenders, but "TransChristians". So without further deconstruction...

Here is an "offensive" blogpost for you

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Sexuality. I have probably thought about it more in the last few months than I ever have before. And of course, conservatives have tended to get prolifically inhumane when they start to talk about it. We tend to forget that LGBTQ is not about a problem to be dealt with, it’s about people to be loved – just like everyone else.

So I'm sitting here on a flight back to Seattle from Charlotte, thinking of the "righteous" indignation that Christians generally feel over Homosexuality and Transgenderism. And while my disposition on this conversation is pretty settled, I think there's a giant and awkward Elephant in the Church, and it's worse than however you feel about Homosexuality or Transgenderism. Way worse.

The issue should probably just be called "Trans-Christianity."

A Transchristian is a person that changed their religious outfit at some point, started self-identifiying as a Christian, and now expects you to identify them as a Christian too. But when you take off their church clothes, something tangible is missing.

Christians from Portlandia to Trumplandia have gotten their holy robes in an anxious twist over Transgenders identifying with a gender that opposes their biological sex. But I'm just wondering when the dam of hypocrisy will break on Transchristians who identify with a Savior who opposes their own priorities and lifestyle choices.

Jesus Christ did not defend gun-rights, hold up signs of any kind, ride in a nice car, plan for retirement or believe in the American Dream… not even a little. He came to serve rather than be served, to die, and to radically call His followers to die too. Jesus was poor-and-nearly-homeless, a carpenter who defended outcasts and was tortured to death.

The Transchristian wants as much of the world as they can get, but just enough of Jesus to keep their pastor happy and their conscience sedated. There is no death to the world and yet they proclaim “Death to the World!” And where there is no real death to the world, there can be no real life in Christ.

Being a "Christian" has perhaps never meant less than it does today. It's a day in which "Christians" are Christians simply because they say they are. And we're all afraid to speak up – scared someone's feelings might get hurt – so we pretend along, believing beyond belief that our friends are really followers.

We’ve got so much to repent of as a community of Transchristians. Myself included. There’s weeping that needs to be done over our own sins. Apologies that ought to be made to entire communities of people that we have objectified as though they were problems to be fixed. And there is a steeple-sized plank in the eye of the Transchristian church that must come out before we can help heal the world.

WELCOME.TO MY BLOG.

my promise is honesty and brokeness... to allow this blog to host my soul's mess. i'll paint my heart for you to read... hued with honesty, beauty, and sometimes pain. not for pity or attention... but that herein, alone with my thoughts and shards of eternity, i meet God, who adores me... and He has captivated every fiber of my being - blood, bone, and bated-breath. He has me in His grip, and settling into His love, I find rest.

Whose that tall handsome man... oh that’s Jesus Christ. It’s nice to have one photo with two of the most influential leaders in my life.

☕️ Cortado. 📖 Book. 💁🏻‍♀️ Babe... My Sunday is made!

🐀🦁🗡”My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world into some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise.” - Reepicheep

“Jesus! I am resting, resting - In the joy of what Thou art; I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart. Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul. For by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.”
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These words were written by Jean Sophia Pigott (b. 1845). They were favorites of Hudson Taylor. •
The soul-rest that comes by gazing upon Christ is true rest. •
#rest #jesus #pnw #northwestisbest #getoutstayout #greatoutdoors #greatpnw #pugetsound #kitsap

New Blogpost (link in bio) if you’re hurting or grieving. A poem of hope from pain. 🤟🏼